Issue | Example |
Industrial Statistics | - Toyota GP margin at 18.85%
- Ford GP margin at 14.37%
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Industrial strike by employees
| - Nissan 100 day strike – 1953 (starting point for labor relations, During this strike, a powerful, left-wing union was replaced by a conservative company union that immediately began a policy of cooperation with management in raising productivity through wage reductions and other concessions.
- Starting 17 May 2010 a prolonged strike (2000 employees) at a Honda automobile parts factory resulted in suspension of operations at all four of Honda's Chinese production bases, which are located in Guangdong and Hubei provinces. The high-profile strike was covered in domestic and international media.
Pay raises of 24% halted the strike action in early June. Honda is believed to have lost 3 billion Yuan in sales as a result. Other strikes at different Honda parts factories followed |
Reducing CO2 emissions from passenger cars | - European Union legislation sets mandatory emission reduction targets for new cars.
- Currently, the European automobile industry invests €32 billion into R&D annually, much of which goes towards fuel-efficiency technologies (Source - The European Automobile Manufacturers' Association (ACEA)) approx. 4% of turnover
- Average age of a car in the EU is 8.3 years
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Just-In-Time systems | - Toyota driven
- Suzuki brought JIT culture into India with their production of Maruti. The Maruti factory at Gurgaon near Delhi can be a culture shock for a visitor. Implemented from a top-down approach
- Typical Japanese methodical fashion of Plan, Do, Check and Action (PDCA).
- In 1995, when Maruti had 4,800employees, it was producing at the rate of 730 cars a day. Today, with 4,500 employees, the plant is producing at the rate of 1,700 cars a day
- Indian Automobile Manufacturers have not made significant progress in supplier development
- Cultural barrier
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Asian emergence | - The automotive industry in India is the ninth largest in the world, with an annual production of over 2.3 million units in 2008. In 2009, India emerged as Asia's fourth largest exporter of automobiles, behind Japan, South Korea and Thailand.
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Motor Shows | - Frankfurt Motor Show is the world’s biggest motor show. In 2009 each manufacturer showcased battery technology powered vehicles
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Driverless cars | - Google is working on a car which requires no driver, is been now tested on the streets and major automakers such as Toyota and Honda and increasingly interested in the perusal of this technology.
- It creates a whole new product segment, which traditional automakers would difficult to supply as the technology is Google’s intellectual property
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Steel Industry | - Steel became the material of choice as soon as mass production and moving production lines dramatically lowered the cost of vehicle manufacture in the early 20th century. The challenge for steelmakers has been to keep pace with the ever increasing rate of technological change in this dynamic industry.
- Safety, Vehicle design, weight etc. all matters
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Merges and Acquisitions | - 2014 Fiat and Chrysler merged to form Fiat Chrysler Automobiles.
- Fiat was the 7th largest player in the industry before the merge.
- Ford-Mazda
- Renault-Nissan
- VW Group – Audi, Lamborghini, Bentley
- Tata Motors – owning Jaguar, Land Rover, Daewoo
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